An Eclectic Journal of Opinion, History, Poetry and General Bloviating

Thursday, September 29, 2016

They Found Answers at the Office of Addresses and Encounters

Mid-17th Century London, London bridge on the right.

On September 29, 1650 Henry Robinson, a noted religious dissenter, philosopher, writer, merchant, and sometimes government official, opened the Office of Addresses and Encounters, a brand new and unusualbusiness on Threadneedle Street in London.

At the office, for a modest fee of sixpence individuals and businesses
could record their addresses,
what services they could offer, and
list what needs they might have.The poor
could use the service without charge.Employers
could offer jobs, and seekers find them.Real
estate including country houses
was offered but lodgers could also
find accommodations.Hard to find merchandise was matched with buyers. It is said that occasionally the lovelornsought companionship or prostitutes
discretely offered their comfort,
leading some later historians to
conclude that it was some sort of dating
service.

Leave
it to humans to make every sort of
information exchange about sex.

Most commonly it functioned as what
the Brits call a labour exchange or on this side of the puddle call an employment service—the first in
England.

In ParisThéophraste Renaudot,
a physician, philanthropist, and journalist
had operated the bureau d’adresse et de rencontre
since 1630.

Robinson got the idea from his good
friend German born Samuel Hartlib, another one of those geniuses-at-large.Today we might call both men public intellectuals.Hartlib had a grander vision for adapting
Renaudot’s idea to England.He wanted a
much larger undertaking sponsored by
the government as a central repository for all usefulinformation.In addition to
the exchange, he wanted a staff of the
leading experts on every topic
to be available to answer any question
a member of the public might have—a kind of livingencyclopedia or Google.

Not surprisingly no one at any level of government was
interested in such a grand and expensive project.After the idea had been kicking around for a
few years, Robinson decided to go ahead with the more modest core of the idea as a private
enterprise.The project did not last long during the turbulent years of the Commonwealth which directed energies elsewhere.But it was long remembered
and has been cited as the inspiration
for various public information projects
on both sides of the Atlantic.

Merchant class and gentle folk like these would have been the primary users of the Office of Addresses and Encounters, but mechanics and other laborers seeking employment could register at no charge as well.

Robinson as a bright young man was educated at St. John’s College, Oxford and was admitted to membership in the Worshipful
Company of Mercers, the premier Livery
Company of the City of London, a
kind of privileged trade association of
generalmerchants especially exporters
of wool and importers of velvet, silk and other luxuriousfabrics.That made him a wealthy man.

Wide
travel, especially to Holland which
nurtured religious dissent, a spirit of tolerance, and unencumbered
commercial business, made him a vocal
advocate for all sorts of change
in England.He began to write widely on economic matters—trade
policy, interest rates, naturalization of foreigners, redistribution
of trades from London center, and inland
navigation.When Parliament and Cromwell came to power ideas he advanced in his pamphlets influenced policy.

In recognition Robinson was appointed to administrative positions, dealing with accounts and sale of
former Crown lands, with farm rents, and acting as secretary to the excise commissioners.

But Robinson is best remembered as a strong
advocate of religious toleration.He
believed that “no man can have a natural monopoly of truth.”Of course, he meant toleration within a range ofProtestant beliefs—Catholics
and Jews need not apply.He later fell
out of favor with the Puritans for
opposing the establishment of a new National Church based on Presbyterianism for fear that it would lead to religious persecution of dissenters.

Robinson was also a pioneer writer against censorship anticipating and informing the views ofJohn Milton.

Robinson died at
the age of 64 in 1664 after the Restoration
had destroyed his public influence
and put his personal safety at risk.